A million-dollar cash prize? Any game show producer can hand out one of those. How about a trip into space? That's what a Russian TV station, Channel One, will offer after paying millions of dollars to reserve a spot with the cash-strapped Russian space agency, BBC News reports. The winner will get a seat on a flight to the International Space Station late next year. The only requirements will be that the contestants are in good health and can speak English. -- Lee Margulies

Kerry Dee Ketchem, the convicted con man who won the largest single prize ever on television's "Super Password" program, was sentenced Thursday in Indianapolis to four years in prison for bank fraud. Ketchem's cross-country bank fraud spree came to an end when he was recognized winning $58,600 on the game show broadcast from Hollywood, using the alias Patrick Quinn. U.S.

The people who bring you "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune" have announced plans to produce a new game show based on the board game that helped make Atlantic City famous. "Monopoly" will be produced by Merv Griffin Enterprises and distributed by King World for the fall 1990 television season. Peter Tomarken, who hosted the show "Press Your Luck," which ran on CBS for three years, will host the show.

Millions of dollars in cash and prizes are awarded to lucky contestants on shows such as "Jeopardy!" "Wheel of Fortune," "Price is Right" and "Family Feud." Sounds like easy money? Well, yes and no. The shows do offer the prospect of a big payoff, and with the exception of "Jeopardy," most require little real knowledge or skill. Living in Southern California is especially helpful because it means that you won't have to shell out air fare and hotels to go to a show.

Sony Pictures Entertainment and United Video Group will announce plans today to launch a cable TV channel next year that will feature wall-to-wall game shows. The Game Show Channel will join a growing list of proposed networks jostling for scarce channel space on local cable TV systems. Among new cable TV networks on tap are a cartoon channel from cable mogul Ted Turner and the Sci-Fi Channel, a joint venture of Paramount Pictures and MCA.

Chuck Woolery. The name is almost impossible to say without half a smile, or perhaps a smirk. Even if you are the former Mrs. Woolery, of which there are two, you probably can't help but react to its innate silliness. That's exactly what the Game Show Network is counting on as it revamps its Sunday night schedule this weekend, with the new "reality" show "Chuck Woolery: Naturally Stoned" as its centerpiece. A la MTV's "The Osbournes" and E!'

Who wants to be a millionaire? Hard-charging business-school students, who will be pitted against each other in CNBC's first-ever game show. "Fast Money MBA Challenge," which premieres Aug. 1 and runs for four hourlong episodes once a week, is both a summertime diversion and an attempt to attract young viewers to a network more accustomed to boardrooms than surfboards. CNBC also hopes it works out better than its recent off-air contest, Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge.

Who wants to be a millionaire? Pretty much everyone in China, and Communist leaders are urging them on. Now, the latest Chinese game show is offering treasure-seeking citizens a novel path to the riches their government is encouraging -- the chance to win cash simply by watching TV. "Everyone Wins," unveiled Wednesday in the booming city of Shanghai, is billed by its creators as the first TV quiz show in the world that enriches viewers as well as contestants.

September 16, 1991 | WINK MARTINDALE, Martindale, longtime host of games on networks and in syndication, also has created game shows for cable, including "Bumper Stumpers" on USA, "Second Honeymoon" on the Family Channel, and a new reality show soon to tape its pilot, "What'll They Think of Next?"

Welcome, viewers and players, to our new game show, "The Greater Truth," where it's not just the answer that counts, it's the truth behind the answer. All right players, our first category is Conventional Wisdom. Question: What type of television program is a dying breed barely clinging to life? Buzz. The Los Angeles Times answers: Game shows. Judges? Wrong! Remember, the object of our game is to find the greater truth. Players, our second category is Wheel of Misfortune.